Merchants of the Vologda province in the structure of municipal government in the last third of the XIX century

The paper deals with the correlation between the proportion of merchants in the total urban population of the Vologda province in the second third of the XIX century and the degree of representation of the merchant class in local self-government after the approval of the Town Regulations in 1870 and then in 1892. Based on materials published in the “Vologda Provincial Gazette” in the 1870s–1890s, the share of the merchant class in the number of electors in the towns of the Vologda province and the share of the merchant class in the number of elected members of the municipal Dumas were calculated and summarized in tabular and graphical form. The results of the analysis not only confirmed the widespread participation of merchants both in electoral processes as voters and in local self-government bodies – municipal Dumas, but also revealed certain patterns. Thus, the more developed the town was in terms of trade and industry, the more representative was the share of merchants among the members of the Duma, even despite the modest share of the merchant class in the total population of the town. And, conversely, in towns where trade and industry were rather of local importance, the share of merchants among members of the municipal Dumas was only slightly higher than their share in the total population of the town. The changing role of the town in the economic life of the province was also reflected in the degree of representation of the merchant class in the municipal Duma.